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Denver Headlines Preseason Big East Honors

from Press Release

NEW YORK - A pair of defending major award winners and a
newcomer were highlighted as the 2014 Preseason All-BIG EAST Men's
Lacrosse honors and poll were announced on Wednesday by the
conference. St. John's senior attackman Kieran McArdle was named
BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while Villanova
senior long-stick midfielder John LoCascio was tabbed the Preseason
Defensive Player of the Year.

Topping the preseason poll was BIG EAST newcomer Denver, which
enters the conference following two appearances in the NCAA
semifinals in the last three seasons. The Pioneers topped the poll
with 36 points and six first-place votes, while St. John's took
second with 31 points and the last remaining first-place ballot.
Villanova was third with 25 points, followed by Georgetown with 22
points. Rounding out the poll were Providence and Rutgers, which
tied for fifth with 12 points apiece, and Marquette in seventh with
nine points.

Voting was conducted by the seven BIG EAST head men's lacrosse
coaches who could not cast ballots for their own players or
teams.

McArdle is coming off perhaps the most prolific offensive season
in school history. The defending BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year
led the conference in goals (36), assists (49) and points (85),
setting school records in the latter two categories, and was
selected a second-team USILA All-America. Also a Tewaaraton Award
nominee last season, McArdle finished 2013 leading the nation in
assist average with 3.77 and second with 2.77 goals per game. His
6.54 points-per-game average was ninth in the country. The
Ronkonkoma, N.Y., native was selected fifth overall by the
expansion Florida Launch in the Major League Lacrosse draft earlier
this month.

LoCascio is coming off a season in which he was a third-team
USILA All-America pick, a unanimous first-team All-BIG EAST
selection and the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. He
started in 14 of Villanova's 15 games last season and led the
nation averaging 3.79 caused turnovers per contest. He added 85
ground balls to his season ledger, giving him the fourth-best
average in the BIG EAST at 6.07 per outing. LoCascio enters 2014 as
a two-time team captain and sits second all-time in school history
with 87 caused turnovers.

McArdle and LoCascio were unanimous selections for both their
major awards and their placement on the preseason All-BIG EAST
squad.

Denver placed a conference-high four on the preseason quad,
including seniors Jeremy Noble (midfield) and Jamie Faus
(goalkeeper), and juniors Wesley Berg (attack) and Carson Cannon
(defense). Georgetown and Villanova tied with three selections
apiece. Senior defender John Urbank, junior attackman Reilly
O'Connor and junior midfielder Charlie McCormick represented the
Hoyas, while the senior defensive pair of Chris Conroy and Chris
Piccirilli joined LoCascio from the Wildcats.

Denver (14-5, 6-1 ECAC in 2013) enters the BIG EAST as the
favorite in 2014. The Pioneers' 2013 season ended with a 9-8
heartbreaker to Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals at Lincoln
Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The Pioneers were ranked
fourth in both the USILA Coaches and Warrior Inside Lacrosse media
polls released on Monday.

In addition to McArdle rewriting his way through the program's
record book, St. John's (9-4, 3-3 BIG EAST) is coming off a strong
season that ended too soon for their tastes. The Red Storm peaked
in the top 15 in both national polls and posted three wins over
top-20 opponents. But St. John's barely missed the BIG EAST
Tournament because of a head-to-head loss with Georgetown, which
claimed the field's fourth and final seed. The Red Storm checked in
at No. 19 in the USILA poll and 17th in the media voting on
Monday.

Villanova might have finished below .500 overall (7-8), but the
Wildcats put together a challenging non-conference slate and went
5-1 in the BIG EAST en route to the conference tournament's No. 1
seed. They advanced to the championship before falling to Syracuse,
a team Villanova defeated during the regular season. Mike Corrado,
the reigning BIG EAST Coach of the Year, has his Wildcats ranked
20th in both major polls this week.

In head coach Kevin Warne's first season, Georgetown (6-9, 3-3)
returned to the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2007
and kept up with top-seeded Villanova for three quarters. The
Wildcats' 4-0 second quarter advantage did in the Hoyas in a 15-12
loss, but hopes are high as Warne enters his second season on the
Hilltop.

Providence opened 2013 with five straight wins, but the momentum
stalled and the Friars finished 8-8 and 1-5 in the BIG EAST.
Second-year head coach Chris Gabrielli is hoping to repeat the
early-season momentum this spring with games against regional
opponents Vermont, Boston University and Quinnipiac, plus battles
with Fairfield and Massachusetts before the start of BIG EAST
play.

There's plenty of optimism at Rutgers (2-13, 0-6), which will
play its home games at High Point Solutions Stadium for the first
time. The Scarlet Knights also boast reigning BIG EAST Goalkeeper
of the Year Kris Alleyne, who averaged 14 stops per game in 2013 to
rank fourth in the nation. Brian Brecht is entering his third
season as head coach.

Marquette went 5-8 in its first season as a Division I varsity
program in 2013, and 2014 marks the Golden Eagles' first year of
BIG EAST play. Joe Amplo, the first head coach in program history,
enters his third season at the helm. Thirty-one letterwinners
return, including leading scorer senior Tyler Melnyk, who scored 23
goals and 38 points. The Golden Eagles open the season with seven
straight on the road.

Three teams open the season on Saturday, Feb. 8. Marquette lifts
the lid at noon Eastern at No. 19/17 Lehigh, Rutgers is home for
Manhattan at 1 p.m. and Denver plays at Air Force at 3 p.m.
Georgetown opens at home on Feb. 12 for a 3 p.m. start against
Mount St. Mary's, while St. John's (home vs. Holy Cross at 1 p.m.)
and Villanova (at Lehigh at 3 p.m.) start on Feb. 15. Providence is
the last to open on Feb. 22 at Vermont at 1 p.m.